Oven door mounting means



June 26, 1962 J. T. DONER 3,040,732

OVEN noon MOUNTING MEANS Filed Aug. 13, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

0%7207M WW ,1 WWIWY June 26, 1962 J. T. DONER 3,040,732 OVEN DOOR MOUNTING MEANS Filed Aug. 13, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l i I i J. 1.......-...-..

INVENTOR. %o%%z7." 2wg WW MQ-ZU A United States Patent 3,040,732 OVEN DGQR MOUNTING MEANS John T. Dozier, Benton Harbor, Mich, assignor to Whirh pool Corporation, a corporation of Deiaware Filed Aug. 13, 1959, Ser. No. 833,587 5 Claims. (Cl. 126-191) This invention relates to door structures and in particular to mechanisms for removably mounting doors in home appliances such as ovens.

In one form of removable oven door known in the art, the door is provided atits lower end with a pair of binge pins mounted in recesses capable of receiving a corresponding pair of notched or slotted brackets mounted adjacent the front of the oven. The door with a pair of quadrant lever arms end of the door so as to urge the opposite end of the quadrant arm against the roller and, as a result, urge the hinge pins on the lower end of the door into the notched or slotted brackets,

The instant invention comprehends a new and improved means for disabling the spring rant arm when desired to permit a separation of the quadthe invention is to provide such means disposed substantially fully within the door.

FIGURE 5 is a vertical section generally similar to hat of FIGURE 4 but with the door dissassociated from ts supporting brackets.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary vertical section taken bias on the quadrides against 3,040,732 Patented June 26, 1962 drawings, a range door 11 for closing the opening 12 of the range.

versely identical.

Referring now more specifically to FIGURES 2 through 6, door 11 is shown to comprise an outer panel 17, and an inner panel 18 to define a cavity the door, the outer panel 17 is wall panel 18 is turned to define a side inwardly of side wall 22.

As shown in FIGURES 3 and 6, the door is pivotally mounted at its lower y a pair of supports or brackets 24 portion 25 slot 28 in At its outer end, bracket portion 26 is provided with an outwardly and upwardly openlot or recess 29 receiving a hinge pin 30 carried by a Ll-shaped bracket 31 secured to inner door panel 18 ceived in a complementary recess 33 in of a downwardly opening limit stop an inner wall 34 box-like combined guide and top wall 41 of guide member 35 and a corresponding opening 42 in the inner panel 18. The opposite end 43 of sp1'ing36 is secured to end Wall 44 of guide member 35 adjacent inner panel end wall 21 by an screw 46.

Quadrant arm 3 is pivotally mounted on a pin 4-8 carried by a bifurcated support 47 Secured to the inner surface of guide member wall 41 and extending through openings 40 and 42. Extending from pin 48 I approximately The inner surface 50 of arm end 49 means comprising a roller 51 member 35 secured to the inner surface of "means 16 is actuated to disable spring Referring now more member or check -nected to end 37 catch member 55 is offset at 58 from brackets 24 to the -tion, quadrant'arms gage detent pins lease bosses 70 relaxation of springs 36 and thereby relieve the oven 13 24 being 30 may be readily efiected to open and close with the pivotal mounting of the do or on brackets forcibly maintained. p

To permit removal of door 11 when desired, control 36 and prevent the forcible urging of hinge'pin 30 into the bracket recess 29. specifically to FIGURES 2 through 5, includes a longitudinally movable catch 55 having a first end 56 pivotally conof spring 36. The opposite end 57 of the the fiat plane of end control means 16 56 and is provided with an opening 59 merging with of slots 69 and 61 each extending longitudinally of the catch member 55 and generally in alignment with the directionfot action of spring 36. As seen in FIGURE 2, the end 62 of slot 60 that is remote from end 56 is disposed substantially closer to end 56 than is the corresponding end 630i slot 61.

r .The longitudinal movement of catch member 55 is controlled by a manually operable stop generally designated 64 and including a leaf spring portion 65 secured at one end 66 to inner door panel, 1Sby suitable means such as screw 67. The opposite end '68 of the spring 65 is turned and is provided with a detent pin 69 projecting laterally into opening 59 of catch member 55. Adiacent end 68, spring65 is provided with an upstanding boss 70 defining a push button which proiects through an opening 71 in door panel 18 for ready accessibility by an operators thumb during the grasping of the side of the door to efiect a move ment of detent pin 69 against the action of spring 65 from a normal disposition within slot 61 (as seen in FIGURE 2) to within slot 60 (as seen in FIGURE 4). The catch member 55 is retained against lateral movement in the direction of movement of pin 69 by the opposite edges of a slot 72 in end wall 73 of guide member 35 through which slot end portion 57 of the catch member freely extends.

The operation of control means 16 to permit the removal of door ll from oven 13 is as follows. With door 11 arranged in the .fully opened position, as seen in FIGURE 2, each boss 70 is manually depressed to move detent pins 69 into slots 60. Door .11 is then pivoted on position of FIGURE 4. In this posi- 39 are pivoted by the action of spring 36 away from the inner do'or'panel 18 sufiiciently to draw catch members 55 through slots 72 until slot ends 62 en- 69; At this point, the operator may reas the pins 69 are confined within the shorter slots 62 and thereby restrained against movement toward inner door panel 18. 'It will be appreciated that the tolerances and flexure'of leaf spring ends 68 are such as to permit detent pins end walls 73 of guide members 35 to prevent further the spring bias from quadrant arms 39.

Further pivotal movement of door 11 toward'the closed position (the dotted line position in FIGURE'2) now causes quadrant arms 39 to move away as further pivotal movement. of the quadrant arms about the axis of pins48'is prevented due to the disabling of springs 36 by the holding action of catch members 55. When the door has beenpivoted to approximately the position of FIGURE 5, it may pins 30 from recesses 29 of the brackets 24. 7 As it is no longer necessary to maintain the manual depression of, bosses 70, the door handle (not shown) normally positioned at the upper end of the door'may be grasped during thisstep, thereby faci tating removal of the door.

To reinstall the door 11 on oven 13, areversalot the above-described steps is effected. Thus, the lower end of the door is disposed adjacentbrackets 24 and pins 30 moved into the bracket recesses 29 until fully seated therein; The door isthen allowed to pivot downwardly until quadrant arms 39 engage rollers 51 as shown in FIGURE 4. The downward pivoting is then allowed to continue whereupon the quadrant arms are pivotedin a clockwise direction (from the position of FIGURE 4 to the position 69 to be. urged firmly against apair tion and arrangement may property or privilege said door said locking means from rollers 51,

be lifted to remove hinge engage the top rather than the thereby moving catch members outwardly through slots 72 until detent pins 69 are no longer held in slot ends 62 whereupon the springs return detent pins 69 to their normal disposition within slots 61, as seen in FIGURE 2.

As control means 16 are disposed substantially fully within door 11, inadvertent operation thereof is effectively precluded and the elements thereof are protected against damageand deposition oi dirt or food materials thereon. The manipulation of bosses todisable springs 36 and thereby permit removal of the door 11 from the oven may be readily effected. The automatic locking of the control means in the spring disabling position during the final steps of the removal operation further facilitates the door removal. Further, the automatic restoration of the control means to the non-disabling position by the simple expedient of pivoting the door to the fully open position upon reinstallation' makes such 'reinstallation extremely simple.

While only one embodiment of my invention has been illustrated and desc bed, it is within the scope of this invention to use a compression spring acting bet-Ween stop 73 and end 38 in place of the tension spring 36. Furthermore, this invention embraces the repositioning of hinge pin 48 within cavity 19, if necessary, so as to accommodate the reversal of quadrant arm 39 so that lever arm 39 will bottom of rollers 51 with suchengagement'being effected by connecting spring 36 to lever arm 39 on the opposite side of pivot pin 48 from that illustrated.

' While I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the construcbe made without departing the invention as defined in of FIGURE 2) from the spirit and scope of the'appended claims.

The embodiment of the invention in which an exclusive is claimed is defined as follows: 1. In a deviceincluding a wall, support means on the wall, a door, means mounting said door on said support 'rheans, said mounting means permitting pivotal movement of said door when said mounting means is urged in one direction and permitting disassociation of the door from the support'means when such urging is prevented, and spring means urging said mounting means in said one direction, apparatus permitting disassociation of from the wall, comprising: a catch member movably carried within said door and operably associated with said door mounting means; means defining an opening in the door adjacent said catch member; and locking means within said door and including a manipulating portion generally in said opening to be accessible exteriorly of being selectively operable to fix the catch member and prevent urging of said door mounting means in said one direction by the spring means.

2. In a device including awall, support means on the wall, a door, means mounting said door on said support means, said mounting means permitting pivotal movement of said door when said mounting means'is urged in one direction and permitting disassociation of said door from said support means when said urging is prevented, and spring means urging said door mounting means in said one direction, means for permitting disassociation of the door from the wall, comprising: a catch member movably carried within said door and operably connected to said spring means; detent means in said door and engageable with said catch member; means defining an open- 1 ing in the door adjacent'said catch member;

means being connected to said detent means the door 3. In a device including a door, and a door mounting mechanism having a support and means including a spring biasing the door into engagement with the support, ap

paratus controlling said spring, comprising: a catch memto the other of said slots.

4. In a device including a door and a door mounting mechanism having a spring, apparatus controlling said 10 ing; and manually operable means for adjustably posi- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Pollock Oct. 25, 1955 Pollock Feb. 5, 1957 Sherman Feb. '17, 1959 Aten Dec. 15, 1959 

